Goryu/47 confirmed a limited opening for this weekend. Just the top two lifts on the 47 side (from the peak about 850m down), it aint much, but if there was a damn bus running (or i could drive and had a car), you bet your ass id be there.

For some reason they only take bookings up to three months in advance and OBVIOUSLY public holiday weekends (new year; 12th-14th jan; 9th-11th feb) and school holiday periods (late december to 8th Jan and late march to early april) are going to be super busy. But a weekday outside those dates on an unpopular flight should score a 20,000 yen round trip without much hassle.

I was THIS close to just picking up a ticket for the 1st (a few cheap tickets left) to the 7th. About 26,000 total. Not the best, but not awful. Just as i was about to confirm i thought what the hey! its goig to puke in nagano then too anyway... might as well not have to pay for a plane ticket and accommodation.

so season starts from monday for reals. Massive dump due tonight tomorrow and monday which should push everything into opening mode. No more half resorts. Assuming the ridiculous wind thats coming with the storm doesnt fully materialize ill be in nozawa tomorrow so can give you an idea of the situation. :)

congrats dude. Make sure you spend some time at kamui. Furano doesnt get a great amount of snow, its a bit too inland and the mountains around niseko tend to get most of the drop before it reaches furano. Dont be toooooooo disappointed when its not niseko.

If you do hiking, just head to tokachidake and have fresh tracks on an active volcano instead :)

congrats dude. Make sure you spend some time at kamui. Furano doesnt get a great amount of snow, its a bit too inland and the mountains around niseko tend to get most of the drop before it reaches furano. Dont be toooooooo disappointed when its not niseko.

If you do hiking, just head to tokachidake and have fresh tracks on an active volcano instead :)

Its a trap i fell into when i went there. If you pop back to the 2011 thread i think it was, youll see me moaning about the very thing. Middle of peak season, both niseko and nagano being hammered, and furano barely getting a top up. By my last two days IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PEAK SEASON (it irked me :)), the mountain was starting to peak through the snow in a few key places. It wasreally depressing to be honest. I wrote a review on the place where i moaned about it. Go check it out. Nice mountain though, fun to ride, and super cheap compared to niseko, but dont expect the same levels of powder. You might get dumped on, and thats great, but its much less likely in furano. If you end up feeling powder starved then remember kamui and tomamu are near enough to break up teh fatigue and might have some decent lines. If it drops and theres a bus to kamui, definitely take it. Time it right and itll be one of your favorite days on the snow.

haha, i am i am (not advanced, just picky about powder). But yeah, i only mention it because people expect furano to get the same levels as niseko. So when they end up with a week of maybe no new snow it can get tetchy and you start to curse the mountain a bit. But the mountain is actually great fun as a ride. Its kinda like goryu for me. A nice intermediate level mountain thats honestly big enough to keep you happy for a fair while. Furano fans honestly love it and go back year after year. Its just a nice cheap hokkaido place to stay within reach of some other awesome places (tomamu, kamui (seriously! go there!), and asahidake). So you know, its pretty nice. :) It just aint niseko either in terms of powder, or in terms of apres. Its got a few barsa nd if youre over the furano side (unlikely) youre a bit closer to the actual town itself.

Hokkaido Powder Guides did my avi training, They seem entirely professional and offer decent tours pretty much anywhere. Since theyre the only tour ive ever used though it means i cant tell you much more than that. Its like asking me to recommend a snowboard and me with only having experience on a custom recommend a custom. I mean, it does the job, never had any problems with it, felt like there was no real padding or time wasting, didnt feel like it was over priced, and got a solid two days of incredibly valuable info out of it. Plus i also *almost* enjoyed the 3 hour lecture at the end of day 1 :) The leader whos name i forget (ETA* Miyazaki San) was awesome. Shes this tiny girl, all 5 foot 2 of her, with the strength and tenacity of a goddamned mountain lion. Loved having her lead our course.

id just look at trip advisor. Also, Toyoko Inn are also cheap and youll find loads of them all over Japan. And just in case you forget: save tokyo for the weekend and niseko for the weekdays to ensure maximum freshies and maximum tokyo fun. The other way around and youll have a quiet tokyo and a rowdy niseko. And no one needs that. As for areas, just chill around shibuya, shinjuku, asakusa, harajuku, akihabara and er, roppongi, and youll have a ball. Youre only there a couple of days you say, so really youll not have time to do anything really but figure out the metro and spend some time in the main districts. Youll pretty much have no time to do anything but people watch and try and get your head around it all :)

Does anyone have recommendations on places to stay in Tokyo? I'd also like some recommendations on what things to do. We don't like real toruristy places.

pretty much what ippy just stated above. but it really depends what you want to do. what kind of place do you want to stay at? hotel? cheap hotel? backpacker hostel?

also if you're going to tokyo might as well check out the touristy spots, they're actually great. at least check out the sensoji in asakusa and take a stroll to the skytree or whatever. shibuya, harajuku, shinjuku areas are all fun and are good to experience.

also, if you're a snowboarder you might want to check out the crazy snowboard / sports gear district, i've never seen such a massive concentration of snowboard shops anywhere in my life! i guarantee there's no where in the world that has this many snowboard shops in one area. they got some cool and fun domestic brands as well the usual american brands. the area is between ogawamachi and jimbocho stations.

i'm stopping by tokyo for 2 days as well in late feb, NOT enough time. there's just way too much to do/see in tokyo!

Hakdong in korea is the same. You wouldnt think it since korea gets no fekkin snow, but its two sides of a massive street. If you find yourself in seoul, its pretty neat (though utterly exhausting after about your tenth shop).

So I booked a hotel in Shinjuku. I'll have to study up on how to get around and where to go. What is the name of this snowboard place? Sounds sweet. Also, I'd like to buy some subaru parts while I'm there. Is there a good english website to navigate their subway system?

One thing id honestly recommend is that your first day using the subway, go and ask for an English map, some stations only have the furigana maps up. Or have the english one squirreled away. :)

Get your own subway and JR map and youre golden.

JR line is hella convenient for trips around the longer tokyo distances. It doesnt cost much more than the subway ride, but can be way more of a clusterfuck ;)

Sumimasen eigo no chizu, ga arimasuka? (excuse me, do you have an English map?)

The snowboard area is called Kanda. But BE WARNED, kanda is the name of the JR station which is a bit of a walk to the place you want to be. Just get the subway to ogawamachi station and then walk towards Jimbocho.

Good luck in hoth dude, hope the weather is nice. Should add, two fatalities last weekend outside the gates. Both fell into glide cracks in two separate areas of the mountain. So er, despite the comparative safety, travel safely and take it easy if you pop out of the gates until you know the area reasonably well. Its still backcountry of course.

And yeah, ikebukuro: night bus. Im sure its got other stuff, its a key part of the line if youre heading to Saitama and Yuzawa though. So if youre going to Niigata or nagano its a nice place. Dont think it has a shink station though, so its Shinjuku, omiya (saitama), Takasaki, Echigo Yuzawa for anyone heading that way (with a few random stops like kumagaya and some place in gunma i forget the name of on the slower trains).

So I booked a hotel in Shinjuku. I'll have to study up on how to get around and where to go. What is the name of this snowboard place? Sounds sweet. Also, I'd like to buy some subaru parts while I'm there. Is there a good english website to navigate their subway system?

big pow days in Niseko United, Annipuri, Village, Hanazono, Hirafu. did a great day in Rusutsu as well, a day in the BC near Rusutsu and the best day of riding in my life in Kiroro. we ducked a lot of ropes and did a lot of hiking and even some skinning up in bounds to get to the top when it was closed. wore my beacon every day just because we had no idea what/where we were getting into. here was a taste of the first 2 days in Hirafu http://instagram.com/p/U9-0IDy6dK/

Did some hiking in the side country in Rusutsu, but there were some cracks behind the cornice that had me a bit spooked so me and my friend turned it around. others dropped it, but i'm a big guy and that would be a lot of load on an unknown slope. still had a banger run down some lower elevation trees. The talking tree in Rusutsu was hours of drunken fun as well as the photo booth http://instagram.com/p/VDyb9oS6QS/

Niseko was really Austrailia North. I don't feel like I need to go to Oz now. i also crystal clear understanding of the term "bogan". not many, but those that were really gave you a taste.

Almost did a day trip to Gala Yuzawa but it would have been about $800 USD on a day trip all things considered, so we bagged it an did a day of sumo during the winter basho. SP? on all of this

Kiroro was off the beaten path and some OB hiking got me on the heaviest line of my life. really opened up some bigger riding for me going forward. here was our group right before we dropped http://instagram.com/p/VKriFfS6Vg/

Yeah, really you need to he to hakuba for steeper lines. Hokkaido isnt really about its mountains. Yo could also hit Tanigawadake/Tenjindaira. Im all snowjapan this post, but its nt so well known internationally, but does have a rather epic line on it for the fearless. You need to know your avi shit though. Same around hakuba. Plenty of serious lines over there.

Heres a decent resort review to get your head around it:

I am a local rider in Minakami that has been riding Tenjin for the past 13 years.As the on piste terrain is very limited, it is likey that intermediate to advanced on piste riders would start to get bored by the end of the day unless you are into powder (which there can be a lot of on piste). There is one good run for beginners but because of the huge amounts of snow and sometimes windy conditions it is not the most comfortable field to learn on. (I recommend Houdaigi in Minakami)

If backcountry (bc), big mountain, trees and deep powder is your thing, then welcome to paradise. On average Tenjin is always in the top 5 ski areas for snow depth, with consistant falls of very light dry powder. There is a huge range of bc terrain ranging from melow tree runs to 60 deg mountain chutes. I rate it as one of the best bc mountains in Japan.

However, the risks at Tenjin are also high. One of the sweetest runs is known as Avalanche Alley for a good reason. Every season a class 2 - 3 avalanche (big enough to take out a good sized house) drops with a number of smaller slides also ocurring. If you want to ride the bc, make sure you have:

-avalanche gear

-know how to use it

-a buddy to ride with

-guide(optional)

The patrol can be difficult at times and do not condone bc riding, so it is best to be discrete.

The wind problems in the past have been somewhat rectified with the new high speed (and stable) Gondola that can hold 15 people. The lift tickets have also dropped to 4000 yen making it a good choice for bc enthusiasts.

Honestly i can only really tell you about nagano and a bit of niigata and a bit of hokkaido. Probably the cheapest place to ride is just touring up in Akita/aomori but i know shit all about it :)

It also really depends on how long you plan to be here. Myoko is seriously starting to take off. If you just want to ride and it doesnt matter but youre here around 3 weeks they have the big 4 pass (all 4 resorts - akakura onsen, akakura kanko (akakan), suginohara and ikenotaira) for something like 35,000 yen. Thats alright. Not great mind you, the full season pass is 50,000. If youre here longer then the ikenotaira pass is great value. 25,000yen i think.

The one problem with ikenotaira is that it doesnt really have the side/back country access of suginohara and akakan.

However, i was just readingthe myoko thread on ski.com.au and the place seems to be starting to get its shit together as far as foreign investment is concerned. Expect hakuba.2 at last in the next few years. The bogans are coming which means its losing that whole rundown but loved rustic charm it used to have, but on the flip it means more accomodation options for foreigners, more DIY options for food, and more bars and nights out in the onsen area.

Furano also makes a pretty cheap option. Accomodation is easy to score and the mountain ticket price (as well as food prices) are standard village prices.

Hakuba Alps backpackers (theyre my mates so full disclosure), offer cheap long term stays. But the lift prices are a bit pricey. Good place for a week or so though.

Togari/nozawa/madarao. Three fun little hills you can just bounce between. Have no idea on accommodation, but togari is the cheapest day ticket ive seen: 2500 yen if you bring your passport. Only applicable to foreigners. They want some of that Nozawa vibe.

Madarao will require a bus in from iiyama since im pretty sure nearby accomodation is going to be on piste price.

OOOOOh! there is this one place. Ill try and get a photo on the train of it next saturday, but its basically a hostel in nagano city. Long stay might be super cheap. Its a serious backpackers. What it allows you to do though is hit up as many resorts in a few days as you can. If youre wanting to not commit yourself to one place, but need to bring the price down its a great way to see as much as you can in like a couple fo weeks. The big blow is that theres no bus that takes you to a resort in the nearby area that charges less than 1200 yen per trip. If youre contemplating a few rest days or want normal price food and amenities in a (crappy to be honest) city, then this might work out.

Shiga Kogen is not even an option for you i think. Accommodation is japanese style pretty much which means 7-10,000pppn, a premium added on for single person, (about 1500 yen) and youre sort of expected to pick up the breakfast/dinner. (and you kinda have to since there aint that much around other than hotels).

Ryuoo have AMAZING deals for short stays, (as does akakan and ikenotaira), its called a black box deal. You get a "random" hotel (same one every time at both ryuoo and akakan), and 2 days lift passes for 7-10,000 yen. Cant get cheaper than that in all honesty without a long stay/early bird season pass deal. Ryuoo though gets pretty boring after a couple fo days though.

Togari = 2500 yen, plus train (740 yen each way) plus accommodation (3000ish) = 7000/day. Add in food at about 2000 yen and youve beaten the 10,000 yen/day benchmark and arent also starving in the priocess. Though you can easy drop it to 1000 if youre really pushing the cheap thing.

The real benchmark for cheap is accommodation under 4000 yen/night. Thats where its going to hit you. If you can score that, youre somewhere really cheap. Its really dorm accommodation and honestly thats not a standard japanese style of doing things. You need a decent foreign investment in an area to find those kind of prices (or really good japanese to hunt them down in jalan.net or rakuten travel). Off season you can go for those kind of deals and end up with an entire room to yourself which is nice. But obviously youll be wanting altitude since it starts getting sticky lower down somewhere between late feb-mid march.

Your absolute best bet is to get a work visa in truth. If youre young enough you can pull it off. Get a crappy job in a hostel for access to a free season pass, free rent, meals and probably a bit of spending cash (though id start saving to be honest) and go ride the season out. Every day you decide to sit it out you aint throwing away cash. Its fairly easy to get a job somewhere so long as youve got a big smiley face and seem hard working. If you can speak a littel japanese and show a willingness to adapt to japanese culture, you might not even have to only choose from the western hovels... :) Sorry niseko. I love you really :)

Plus you can work in niseko and ride 100 days+ a season which will piss off EVERYONE on this forum and wherever else. Just have a good attitude, be willing to work a bit, and dont just treat it like a free holiday and youll have a ball.

i can only speak for niseko. but it's totally possible to live there on a budget during the season. PLENTY of places to stay at on a budget and i'd say decent amount of part time gigs you can pick up from what i see.

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